Adam Sandler Does a Dual Drag Role in ‘Jack and Jill’

Matt McDaniel

Managing Editor

Movie TalkJuly 12, 2011

It's been said that comedy isn't pretty. But that statement has never been truer than in Adam Sandler's next comedy, "Jack and Jill."

In it, Sandler plays Jack Sadelstein, a family man with a gorgeous wife and loving kids. But each year he dreads the holiday season, knowing that it will bring the annual visit from his twin sister, Jill -- played, of course, by Sandler in a dress and wig. Jill is loud, destructive, and determined to burrow her way into Jack's life.

"Jack and Jill" combines two classic comedy tropes that Sandler has surprisingly never used in a movie before: dressing in drag and playing two character in one movie. Sandler played female characters on "Saturday Night Live," most notably as one of the "Gap Girls," but he hadn't in a film before. Also, Sandler hasn't ever played a dual role in a movie (not counting the multiple voices he did in the animated "Eight Crazy Nights"). In this, digital effects allow him to play both brother and sister in the same shot.

One thing that's not new for Sandler in this film is that he's paired up with a beautiful and much younger romantic interest. In this case, it's Katie Holmes, who plays his wife and is 12 years younger than Sandler. That's a bigger age gap than he had with Keri Russell in "Bedtime Stories" (10 years) and Emmanuelle Chriqui in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (11 years). But it is a much smaller gap than he had with his "Just Go With It" costar, Brooklyn Decker (21 years).

But Jack isn't the only one getting attention from the opposite sex. In the movie, Jack and Jill go to a Lakers game where she catches the eye of Al Pacino, who plays himself in the movie. In the movie, Pacino spots Jill while sitting courtside at the game while wearing a fake beard as a disguise. And of all the wacky things that happen in the movie, that might be the closest to reality. In 1997, Pacino tried attending a Yankees game incognito by donning a fake beard. But he was quickly spotted by both fans and the press.

"Jack and Jill" opens on November 11. Watch the exclusive trailer for the movie below.